My Little Titan
by moonsideup
Summary: Disclaimer: I do not own either My Little Pony Equestria Girls nor do I own Titanfall. Hasbro gaming and Respawn own them respectively.
1. Chapter 1

Warning: This may contain major plot spoilers for the campaign of Titanfall 2. If you do not wish to have it spoiled, TURN BACK NOW.  
Also, I WILL assume that you know what Titanfall 2 is, since...well your reading a titanfall 2 fanfiction, so it would be kinda dumb not to know about the game your literally reading a fanfiction about. Alright then here we go

The story happens five years after the titanfall 2 campaign.

"SIM pod deactivated. Releasing hatch maglocks," A female mechanical voice said. Rainbow Dash groaned. This was the fifth time that she was being taken out of VR for some stupid mistake. Her father clicked his tongue disapprovingly as the pod folded open.  
"Rainbow Dash, the point of being on a team, is to work together,"  
"I can work with them, dad, it's just that I'm 20% cooler than them. Besides, they hardly are functional,"  
"You can't go solo and expect to survive. My motto is-"  
"Always be around one other person blah blah blah," She made a talking motion with her hand.  
"Rainbow, this is serious. If you go out into the field and repeat those same mistakes, you wouldn't last halfway through the battle,"  
"Dad, it's not a big deal, honestly. It's just that the AI in the VR systems suck," She complained. Her father raised an eyebrow.  
"So the reason why you don't work together with the simulation is that the pilots are AI?" He asked.  
"Exactly."  
"So if they were real pilots, you would work with them?" Rainbow nodded.  
"And I would kick their asses,"  
Her father looked thoughtful for a second.  
"Let's say I put you in a match with a team of actual pilots. Then would you finally cooperate?"  
"Like war games?" Rainbow Dash asked excitedly. She had never been in a war game and she had always wanted to.  
"Sure. However, there is one catch to this," He said, "You will have to face off against an experienced opposing team."  
"Deal," Rainbow said. She was confident that whoever faced her would be turned into mincemeat.  
"Stay here. I'll go fetch your allies and opponents. Be back in a bit," He popped out of the room. Rainbow Dash was excited, and what was only a dozen minutes felt like hours before her father came back.

"They are all set up in their pods. Linking you into the game," He tapped the control panel on the outside of the VR pod. It closed up, enclosing Dash into darkness for a second. Then, green lights appeared all around her and then she was whisked into the simulated dimension. She was in a dropship with four other pilots. The pilot turned back around to face them.  
"Rainbow, this is a four V four. Meet my old friends, the Harmony Elites," Rainbows guts suddenly froze.  
"T-the Harmony Elites?" She could picture her father grinning.  
"I thought you said you could, quote, 'kick their asses', unquote,"  
Rainbow Dash tried to say something but was cut off by her father saying  
"Alright, no more questions, time to deploy," The ramp on the rear of the dropship lowered as they hovered meters above the air.  
"Go go go!" A female voice yelled, and all three of them moved at once, catching Rainbow by surprise. They leaped off the dropship and landed gracefully, quickly running toward the center of the War Games map.  
"What are you waiting for? Go go go!" The floor melted away from under her feet as Rainbow soared downward, somehow managing to land the jump, thanks to her jump pack. But all throughout the fall millions of thoughts were swirling around in her head. The Harmony Elites. They were some of the best pilots in the militia. The captain of the group was even on the IMC's top 50 Militia operatives. The moment she saw them, she instantly knew who she wanted to become. Sometimes, as a prize, her father would dig into the computer systems to pull up information and stories about them, which Rainbow Dash could read all night long. She knew each of their respective titans, their ranks, almost everything. The only thing she didn't know was their individual names.

But, another nagging thought. If she could impress them, they might consider taking her as a recruit or something. That thought snapped her mind back into action mode. She examined her surroundings, which she recognized from the pictures she saw of the war games map. She took off sprinting, jumping, wall-running, and wrecking the occasional grunt squadron until she reached the center of combat.  
In the first few seconds, she was there, she was suddenly mowed down by a cluster of bullets. She felt the sharp pain from the contact point and a second later she was standing on a building. Damn. Five seconds in the combat zone and she was reduced to shreds. The bottom left corner of her helmet showed the killfeed.

Harmony 1 eliminated Rainbow Dash

"Ugh," Rainbow groaned. At this rate, she would impress the captain as much as a three dollar burrito would impress Gordan Ramsey. She set off again, quickly steadying her mindset away from the potential failure and to the situation at hand.

All of a sudden, a knife struck the ground next to Dashie, and a loud sonar pulse emitted from it. A split second later Rainbow jerked to the side as a foot came crashing down on her from nowhere.  
"Whoa!" She exclaimed, firing off a shot in surprise. The pilot jumped back and deployed a circular device which produced a large particle shield. She whipped out an L-star and began blasting at Rainbow. She launched her grappling hook backwards, which tugged her out of the pilot's line of sight. She strafed around the wall and crept up behind the other pilot. From the weapon load-outs, she could tell it was Harmony 5, nicknamed Orchard. She snuck up behind her and pressed the barrel against Orchard's neck. immediately, she whipped around, knocking the gun out of Rainbows hands and firing a pistol rapidly, embedding three bullets into Rainbows arm. She felt the sharp sting as the bullets connected and formed simulated pain. Her mind was racing now, trying to find a way to combat her opponent. Suddenly, her hand landed on her grapple and she had an idea. Just as Orchard brought out her L-star and was about to fire, Rainbow threw the heavy metal end of the grapple straight at her face. She screamed in surprise and was immediately hooked in toward Rainbow. With one swift blow to the head, Orchards body fell and disintegrated into a fizz of holograms. Rainbow had managed to take out one of the Harmony Elite. She stared at her hand for a second before grinning. Picking up her Mastiff shotgun, she took off again.

Almost an hour later, the simulation ended. Her side ended up losing, but she had managed to get to the imaginary dropship for evac training. Rainbow Dash stepped out of the SIM pod and was immediately greeted by her father and another tall man, whom she recognized as Harmony 1, or the Captain.  
"You were rather impressive," He said. Rainbow felt herself blush, but luckily she had the foresight to put on her helmet before stepping into battle.  
"You call that impressive? Watch what she could do to the AI pilots. Her only fault is that she can't work with an AI team," Her dad said.  
"Well, you proved that you can work with an actual team," Captain turned to her father again "DId you see how she time the grenade just right to distract my titan?" He said this without a hint of anger at Rainbow. Instead, he just seems to be...proud?  
"My daughter is my pride and joy. I've been training her since she was 16," Rainbows father said, smiling openly at her.  
"Oh, that reminds me. I got so caught up in the battle that I almost forgot. Didn't we make a test before?" Captain asked her dad.  
"Oh, yeah. Rainbow, me and Harmony 1, we made a sort of test. If you could work with and eliminate at least 3 of the pilots on the opposing team, the Captian said he would consider you to join the Harmony Elites," Rainbows vision suddenly narrowed. Wait, did her father really just say that? Did the Captain agree? Was she going to join the Harmony Elites? She opened her mouth to ask something, but all that came out was a pile of gibberish. Both men laughed.  
"Alright then, what do you say Rainbow? I'll give you a few more tests and, if I'm pleased with the results, you'll be in the Elites," Rainbow gurgled again.  
"I think that's a yes," Her father grinned. In a split second, Rainbow was screaming yes and doing a sort of dance.  
"Uh, Rainbow...?" The Captain started to ask  
"Just, um, let her have this," Her father said.

Months later, Rainbow had finished the tests. It was distracting both because it was for the Harmony Elites, but mainly because each session was tested by a different member of the Elites. She even managed to learn a few of their actual names. But now, it was a waiting game. She twirled her thumbs around each other anxiously.  
"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll do fine," Harmony 7, or Fluttershy as Rainbow had learnt, sat beside her.  
"Thanks, Fluttershy. I'm just a bit nervous, since joining the Harmony Elites had been my dream since...um...since I first wanted to become a pilot,"  
"That must have been a long while. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll make the cut," The Captain, or Dusky Gadget as she learnt, strolled out of his office. It was a fitting name, actually, considering half his body was replaced with cybernetics. He even had a miniature laser turret that could pop out of his shoulder at a moments notice. She considered asking him if he had decided, but decided against doing so, and instead watched as he walked down the hallway. She noticed something odd on the back of his head though. At the spot were his head connected with his neck, there was a glowing blue light. She stared at it for a few moments before turning to ask Fluttershy about it.  
"Oh, that? That's the Captains titans data core,"  
"But what's it doing inside his head?"  
"Well, the Captain was offered a Vanguard-class titan, but he loved the Tone class so much he refused, but he still wanted the ability to connect with his titan on a personal level. So, he got modified so that whenever he steps inside a titan, the data core automatically changes the titans operating system to his data cores AI. It's kind of cool, actually, since he could use any titan as long as he manages to get inside the cockpit," Fluttershy finished.  
"Wow," Rainbow said.  
A moment later, Dusk had strolled past Rainbow and Fluttershy with a very nervous Harmony 8, or Trixie, in his tow. He closed the door to his office. Silence for a few minutes, then a loud yell, followed by a very loud "You cannot possibly get rid of the great and powerful Trixie! The team will crumble-". A few minutes of what Rainbow hoped to be a calm discussion later, Trixie burst out of Dusks office, slamming the door behind her, absolutely seething. Her teeth were clenched and her hands balled into fists. Fluttershy and Rainbow stared at her. She glared back, and Fluttershy winced a bit, hiding behind her hair. Trixie looked like she was about to say something but instead stormed off. Dusk poked his face out of his office again.  
"Rainbow? I decided. COme on in," Rainbow nervously stood up and walked into his office. Just before the door closed, she caught a glimpse of Fluttershy showing her a thumbs up.  
Dusks office could be described as chaotic. Papers were strewn the desk and behind him was a mess of electronics. He shuffled a stack of papers around and pulled one out. He took a bit to read it and began.  
"I see your hand to hand combat is really good, although your long-range accuracy is not too good," He looked up at the fidgeting Dash "We could use another close-range fighter like you,"  
This reassured her as he continued.  
"Everything so far is good, except," he looked up.  
"You don't seem to have a registered titan,"  
"Well, I, uh, never exactly piloted a titan outside of a SIM pod before, so I never really needed to get-,"  
"Which class would you say is your best?" He interrupted her.  
"Uh," Think Dashie, think! She screamed in her mind "Uh, Ronin, sir," She quickly added. Dusk looked back down at his papers.  
"Alright, that can be arranged. Also, don't call me sir, that's the riflemen's name for me. We're all friends in the Harmony Elites," Rainbow gulped and said  
"Yes, si-," She caught herself before she said sir. Dusk laughed.  
"Alright, alright, you're in the team. Ill escort you to your room aboard our ship, the Gyrfalcon,"

NOTE

And this is what I've been writing for the past month that I didn't post. Im not sure if this game is still relevant or not, but personally I like it. Yeah, uh, in case anyone who read my first story is reading this, sorry about not uploading, next chapter will be on that story. Also, any tips on improving writing combat scenes would be very much appreciated.


	2. Chapter 2

Rainbow Dash's new room was...small. Her dad helped her to move her stuff into the 8 by 9-foot room, which made it even more cramped. Luckily, Dusk had reassured her the room was mostly going to be used for storage since they often parked on larger Militia vessels for deployment. The ship itself was a modified IMC bomber that Dusk somehow managed to hijack. It was an okay size otherwise, with a small kitchen in the hallway consisting of a fridge, a sink, a two-foot large counter hanging over a dishwasher, and a small range, as well as a few short and low cupboards. It was located in a small area which Rainbow guessed used to be a bomb storage area.  
Right now, they were aboard the Annapolis, waiting to be briefed on a mission they were going to partake in. Rainbow waited in her room, bored out of her brains. She got onto her phone and checked her Network. Nothing new.  
"Hi Rainbow!" Pinkie Pie burst into her room.  
"Hi, Pinkie. What's up?"  
"Follow me. I got a super amazing, super awesome and super fun surprise for you!" Pinkie grabbed Rainbows wrist and brang her out of the Gyrfalcon.  
"Wha-?" Rainbow quickly steadied her legs to avoid being dragged along. Pinkie didn't answer any of Rainbow's questions, the most prominent being where were they going. They stepped into a completely dark room. Pinkie was still visibly excited, but Rainbow was even more confused now.  
"Uh, Pinkie? You know this is an empty room, right?"  
"It is?" She asked, in fake surprise. She bounced inside and flicked a switch. Instantly, a large compartment lit up. Her Scorch was in front of Rainbow on a lowered platform so they were both almost eye level. He held his thermite cannon up and pulled the trigger. Rainbow raised her hands above her head and screamed in surprise, expecting to feel the hot burn of thermite. Instead, she felt little shreds of paper against her skin. Confetti? She looked up and a rather large splotch of what looked like paint, balloons, and confetti was dripping from the roof.  
"This is your 'Welcome-into-the-harmony-elites' party!" She turned around "All right guys, you can come out now!" Rainbow Dash looked around expectantly, waiting for everyone else to pop out.  
"Uh, where is everyone?" Pinkie was genuinely confused.  
"There have been no life forms in this chamber since you left," The Scorch announced.  
"Uh, are you sure?" Pinkie asked the Scorch. All of a sudden, her helmet in the corner of the room began lighting up with flashes. She rushed over there and threw it on her head. When Pinkie emerged from the helmet, her expression changed from confusion to worrisome."What is it?"  
"Um, heh heh, we are kind of supposed to be at a mission briefing right now..."  
"What?!"  
"Uh, yeah, we should run," Pinkie tore off down the hallway, leaving Rainbow Dash in her dust. Rainbow took off after her, trying her best to follow Pinkie. Eventually, she had managed to make it to the briefing room, after several directions from patrolling grunts in the hallway. She cautiously knocked before entering. Nobody was there.  
"Umm," Rainbow Dash walked around the room, puzzled. Did she enter the wrong room? All of a sudden, her phone rang with a message. It was from Dusk.  
'Oi, where are you? Ships about to take off'  
'Um, which ship? What's happening?'  
'Weren't you at the briefing? Scratch that, Pinkie just told me that you were at a surprise party. Come back to the Gyrfalcon, ASAP. I'll inform you there'  
'That would be nice, except...'  
'...you don't know where the Gyrfalcon is, do you'  
'Hehe...'  
'Ugh. Where are you?'  
'Well, I think I'm in the briefing room.'  
'Step out of the room, take a left, continue down the hallway until you reach the end, turn right, then exit on the door to the right'  
A few minutes later, the Gyrfalcon took off. Dusk was piloting, and he informed Rainbow about their mission. A squadron of the Angel City elites was trapped in the harbour district of angel city. They had to take out all the forces around them so they could get some vital information that they found to the rest of the Militia.  
"Sounds simple enough," Dashie said  
"Except it's not," Dusk replied.  
"Why not?" Rainbow frowned.  
"During every one of these missions, something slips up. No matter how many good luck charms you bring, something goes wrong," He pushed some buttons on the dashboard.  
"Might want to strap yourself in. I'm about to make a Jump," Rainbow nodded and strapped herself in into the co-pilot seat.  
"Alright everyone, about to make our first jump. Strap in, and please hold onto your lunch. Directed toward you, Pinkie," He put the radio down and hit a lever. The ship began rattling, and white light began splitting Dashes vision in half. A second later, the ship stopped.  
"Jump successful. Alright, you calculate the next jump, I'll pilot this time," Dusk said. Rainbow was taken aback.  
"Uh, I don't know how to-"  
"I wasn't talking to you, Rainbow," He tapped the back of his head."Oh. Um, well, is there anything I could do?"  
"Go check on Pinkie. I don't want to make another jump if she's not near a sink or a toilet," Rainbow unstrapped herself and walked down the hallway to the kitchen. Luckily, Pinkie was leaning over the sink, gagging and with a putrid smell emitting from it."Uh, Pinkie? You okay?"  
"She has a bit of motion sickness. It's normal when we make a jump. Although I honestly would expect someone like Rarity to get motion sickness." A voice came from behind Rainbow. She turned around and found Sunset Shimmer, AKA Sunrise leaning against the fridge.  
"Uh-huh,"  
"So, how are you finding us?"  
"What do you mean?"  
"What do you think of working with us? Like, how do you feel about all of us?" Sunset asked, opening the fridge.  
"Its a dream come true. I've always wanted to work with you guys,"  
"Oh, come on. We cant be that good." Sunset said modestly  
."Your kidding. You helped to prevent the destruction of a planet, and you've had countless missions to help wreck the IMC and the Remnant Fleet, and your leader is the only cyborg pilot in existence,"  
"Hmm. Fair point." Sunset turned her attention back to the fridge.  
"Who ordered all this whipped cream?" Pinkie raised her hand. Sunset laughed then walked off with a can. Rainbow walked back up to the cockpit where Dusk was preparing the final jump coordinates.  
"Shes over the sink. And I think she already had lost her lunch,"  
"Well, at least this is the last jump until we get there. Preparing jump," Dusk grabbed the radio and announced the second jump. He entered the coordinates, and the ship began rumbling again and made the jump. All of a sudden, a dozen or more Phantom class IMC fighters filled what was previously space.  
"Shit," Dusk yelled, suddenly veering off to the side. Half a dozen missiles streaked past them as Dusk wrestled with the controls.  
"What's going on?" Rainbow asked, grabbing the seat armrests.  
"Not sure if you noticed, but we've been ambushed," He pointed to a joystick close to Rainbow.  
"Grab that. It's the controls for the autocannon in front. Aim and shoot, quick,"  
Rainbow seized the bar in her hand. A phantom appeared in front of them, blasting away at the Gyrfalcon. Rainbow pressed down harder than she should on the tiny red button on top, and the ship's cannons lit up. Connecting with the fighter, it exploded in a brilliant flash of light. They flew straight through the wreck.  
"It's too dangerous to make a safe jump away, so I'm gonna try to bring us down and make a landing." They burned toward the planet, white-hot flames licking at the nose of the ship.  
"Prepare for impact. I'll try and steady the ship, but we will still crash." Dusk grabbed the radio and repeated the same thing, before grabbing the steering wheel and jerking back in his seat. The nose began rising and the ground began coming closer.  
"Hold on!" Dusk yelled, just before the ship rattled with a loud grinding sound. Alarms were going off, red light filling the cockpit. Dash watched as the Gyrfalcon's nose hit the ground, rocking the entire ship as it plowed clean through the earth. A sudden stop caused Rainbows head to slam against the dashboard and blacked she woke up, her vision was still spinning. A mix between black and specks of orange. A yellow blob split her vision in half.  
"I think she's awake," A soft voice said. The thudding of footsteps followed and another blur came across her vision.  
"Will she be okay?"  
"I'm not sure." The second voice groaned.  
"If she gets hurt, Bow Hothoof will kill me,"  
"Rainbow? Can you hear me?" Rainbow nodded in the best fashion she could manage, which was a simple jerk of her head upwards. She heard Dusk sigh in relief.  
"Can you sit up?" Fluttershy asked. She slowly, with her help, sat up. Her vision had cleared up, so she could see the small campfire that was made. Everyone else sat around, with varying degrees of injuries.  
"How did they know?" Sunset asked, holding her knee which appeared to have a few deep gashes "There is no way they could have known we were going to attack,"  
"There's probably a leak in command," Twilight suggested. Rainbow noticed Dusk tense up.  
"Uh, Dusk?" She asked, in an incredibly croaky voice "Is everything alright?"  
"Uh, yeah, yeah, everything's fine," Everyone looked at Dusk, clearly knowing he lied."Alright fine. When I gave Trixie the metaphorical boot, I noticed later that a single Hornet fighter was missing from the base. I didn't put two and two together until now," He took a deep breath "I think Trixie defected to the IMC,"  
"What?" Applejack asked, "Why did you kick her off the team?"  
"Because I'm only allowed to have seven other people on a team! I'm only a Captain, for Pete's sake! You can't expect me to be able to just put as many people as I wish on this elite team! I only put the best I can find," Dusk snapped. He seemed incredibly intimidating at that moment, so much so that even Rainbow felt scared. Dusk sighed, apologized and walked off, canteen in hand. No one said much after that.  
"So, uh, what happened after we landed?" Rainbow asked.  
"Well, some IMC titans were quickly coming, so Dusk had gathered all the equipment he could and loaded them in a bag. He, Rarity, Applejack and I got the rest of you out, and we quickly slipped away." Pinkie said "After we arrived here, I heard a loud boom so I think the Gyrfalcon is destroyed,"  
"So, what do we have?" Rainbow Dash asked.  
"Well, we have Dusks CAR and anti titan rifle, three Ticks, some silenced pistols, Sunsets Kraber, Rarity's grenade launcher, a few feet of grapple rope, and a single battery," Twilight listed off everything. Silence.  
"So, we have no food?" Rainbow Dash asked.  
"Well, Sunset had brought out a can of whipped cream, and there are plenty of Prowlers around, so while you were out, Sunset and Dusk went out to hunt a few. We managed to make a half-decent tasting steak," Pinkie Pie said, holding out what looked like a mangled, dead burnt dog.  
"Uh, I'll pass," Rainbow said, crinkling her nose.  
"They're rather foul-tasting, sure, but they at least edible," Rarity said. Dusk returned, seemingly half drunk.  
"Oh, yeah, I forgot. Dusk had managed to get some of his moonshine out," Twilight said, with a hint of disapprovement in her voice.  
"'ey! You have a problem withat?" He asked.  
"Aside from you being drunk half of the time your not on a mission?" Twilight said, sarcastically.  
"I ain't drunk half the time I'm off," He said defensively.  
"Yeah, and you don't take off to Angel City twice every month to go visit Barker," She continued her sarcastic tone. Dusk just glared at her and sat down on a rock, taking a long swig from his canteen. There was a minute of silence before he talked again. This time, in a more commanding tone.  
"Alright. We leave to the IMC base tomorrow, first signs of light. Get some good sleep everyone, you'll need it," He said. And with that, he passed out, nearly falling into the fire. Twilight looked at him with disgust and stepped over his body.  
"If he's right about one thing, its that we'll need an early start. We should get as much as sleep as we can," She grabbed Dusk's canteen and quickly emptied its contents away from the fire. Fluttershy helped Rainbow by making a bed made of soft grass and leaves. Then she laid near Rainbows feet, in case she had another medical issue that sprang up at night. Applejack doused the fire with a pile of dirt. Rainbow fell asleep quickly.

Note

In case any of you are wondering, I am going to aim for a similar uploading pattern as my first story, and try to post new chapters for My Little Titan monthly as well. Thank you for your time. All of you are great pilots.


	3. Chapter 3

"Wake up. Rainbow, wake up. It's time to go," Rainbow opened one groggy eye. Dusk was kneeling over her, shaking her torso.

"Hmmfivemoreminutes..."

"Come on, we need to go now. Unless you want to be swimming in a few dozen stalkers, get up," Rainbow's eyes flew open.

"What?"

"Rarity said she had noticed a drone fly by us. It opened fire, but she had managed to destroy it. And anytime there is a drone, most likely there are dozens of stalkers or spectres nearby," He helped Rainbow up. All of a sudden, a burst of red lasers flew between Rainbow and Dusk. Stalkers climbed over the rocks, launching bursts of the red lasers straight at them.

"Shit," Dusk grabbed Rainbows arm and swung her onto his back, sitting on a duffle bag strapped around his waist.

"Hang on," Rainbow was about to ask what he was going to do and why when they went from zero to fifty kilometres an hour. Rainbow almost fell off, clinging to Dusks collar as her life depended on it. Which it probably did.

"Oooh, yeah," Dusk yelled.

"Oh shit!" Rainbow yelled. They hit a patch of trees fast, zooming past the endless pillars of wood. Rainbow ducked and weaved to avoid leaves and branches. A few minutes later, Dusk seemed to tire, so he slowed to a stop and let Rainbow off his back. He leaned over, panting, tongue out like a dog.

"Holy crap, Dusk, what was that?" Rainbow asked. Dusk raised a finger to indicate he needed a second. It was a full minute before Dusk talked.

"Don't tell Sarah Briggs or" He gasped again "Twilight. It's called Smuggled Stimulant. Basically overpowered Stim. You won't tell them, will you? Cause if either finds out I'm gonna be in for a hell of a lecture," Rainbow giggled at how much Dusk seemed afraid of his second in command.

"Don't worry, I won't. Besides, I hate lectures too,"

"Thanks, Rainbow," Dusk said. He flipped her a packet.

"What's this?" She asked, peering through the semi-transparent plastic.

"It's a deck of cards. It's a way of saying thanks for not ratting me out," Dusk said.

"A deck of...cards? Why do you have-,"

"Trust me, they're special." Rainbow nodded at Dusk through skeptical eyes "Burn them, and trust me. Their effects are amazing. Just...don't burn any unless you absolutely need to, okay?"

"By absolutely need to you mean...?"

"I don't know, just not around Twilight. If she sees me using them again and giving them to you no less, she'll flip out. Literally,"

"Anyway, uh, any idea where we are?" Rainbow asked, pocketing the deck. Dusk shook his head.

"We should climb a tree. Might be able to spot something. I'd do it myself, but I just took enhanced Stim and I'm still a bit hungover from moonshine," He kneeled and positioned his hands to boost Rainbow up. She took a step back, then ran running forward, springing up and jumping onto his shoulders, then using her jump kit to boost herself to the higher branches.

"Or you could do that," She clambered up to the top and looked around. Pretty much endless forest, but to her left, she noticed a shining star.

"See anything?" Dusk asked.

"Yeah, there's something...shinning in that direction," Rainbow pointed west.

"Well, I guess that's where we're going," Rainbow climbed down.

"You sure? Looks like at least a day's walk from here,"

"Well, considering that's our best lead back to civilization, we should probably take it," Dusk said. He opened the small duffle bag

"We have a canteen full of water, two silenced pistols with two clips of ammo each, and a bit of leftover Prowler meat, as well as my CAR,"

"Where did the others go?" Rainbow asked.

"They left earlier. I decided to stay back with you for about an hour, to let you sleep in a bit since this is your first mission,"

"Uh, thanks,"

"Don't mention it. Besides, I owe your dad to take care of you," He looked up and put a finger on his radio.

"Harmony Elites, this is the Captain. Stationed near the crash site, requesting sitrep," Rainbow put her hand to her radio too, but all she heard was static.

"Shoot, they must be out of range. Normally we have an incredibly large range, but with the Gyrfalcon down and the IMC controlling most satellites around here, we don't get the luxury of long-range communications," Dusk zipped the duffle back up and slung it over his shoulder.

"Come on, as you said it'll be a day's walk. Might as well get started,"

They both walked for a while in silence, interrupted by the chirping of birds and rushing of nearby water. Rainbow thought how much it looked like the pictures her grandfather had shown her of Earth forests.

She decided to ask Dusk a question.

"Hey, uh, how did you get the Gyrfalcon?" He almost lost his footing on a log they were crossing.

"Oh, uh, I escaped an IMC facility on it, and after that, I just really liked the ship, so I decided to keep it,"

"Oh," Silence again. Rainbow found it slightly irritating. After a minute, she asked another question.

"What was your childhood like?" She more blurted out the question, since the thought had been nagging her for a while.

"Well, my father was Militia. I looked up to him. He was great, jumping and sliding faster than many other pilots. Heh, I still remember the time I accidentally broke all of my mom's vases with his Smart pistol. Good times. He deflected the blame by saying it had misfired. Every mission he went on, I had complete confidence he would be able to pull it off and come back with open arms, ready for my big hugs. But then, the Battle of Demeter came along...," Dusk looked away. Rainbow felt a rush of sympathy. Nobody on the surfaced survived the battle. "After the mission, I waited for days for him to return. Turned into weeks, then months. My mom realized he wasn't coming home earlier than I did. She let me wait for three months before finally telling me. She was a bit spooked, and I think she thought that the Militia was bad luck for her, and she wasn't half wrong 'cause it took two important men from her life. Anyway, she took me to an IMC training facility. But soon after I graduated, I fled back to the Militia," Dusk told more stories about his childhood, from what the facility was like to his first battle, and even a few escapes from IMC prisons. Night fell soon, and Dusk made a small fire. He used his laser turret to ignite the tinder.

"So yeah, that's my life story," He passed a piece of roast Prowler to Rainbow. She bit into it, tasting the day old, burnt flesh.

"What's yours?" He asked, passing over the canteen which they refilled with water from a stream and boiled.

"I'm kind of like you, except for not losing my father. Born on the frontier, raised on the frontier, dad in the militia, being awesome. I knew I wanted to be a pilot when I was around eight when my dad first showed me you and your team,"

"Wait wait wait, hold on a second. Your entire career as a pilot was based on me and my team?" Dusk asked, surprised.

"Yeah. You guys are awesome," Awkward silence.

"Well, you probably are pretty happy to be working with us,"

Rainbow nodded

"What you probably wouldn't notice from the outside is our internal problems. For example, as you know Twi hates my drinking habit,"

Rainbow had to admit whenever she saw them she assumed that there were no internal problems. The seemed like just a big family, like the 6-4. Dusk began describing the rest, such as Rarities argument with Twilight about design over functionality, Applejacks constant "I got this" personality, Pinkie and Fluttershy's opposing personalities. Surprisingly, the one person who didn't seem to have any issues with anyone else was Sunset Shimmer.

"She acts as a sort of buffer against our arguments most of the time. She's sort of like a leash that connects us all, and I'm the walker. Letting go would spiral into disaster. Luckily, I'm not planning on letting go anytime soon,"

"If you don't mind me asking, uh, do you have a crush on her?" Rainbow asked, remembering the rumours. Dusk immediately turned a deep shade of red and changed the subject.

"We should take shifts to sleep. One of us stays awake then we switch every two hours," Rainbow nodded and reached for a pistol. Dusk beat her to it

"No, you need your sleep. You're younger than me anyway, and this is your first mission," He propped himself up against a tree stared into the fire. Rainbow knew that negotiation was probably out of question, so instead, she simply crawled into a ball on the most comfortable patch of dirt and fell asleep.

Rainbow woke up by rays of sunlight hitting her face. She sat up in a panic, realizing she had overslept her shift. She looked over and Dusk was asleep against the tree, pistol held loosely in his hand. The fire had long since died out, replaced by a light smoke drafting up.

"Dusk" She called out. He didn't respond, only snorted and shifted in his sleep.

"Dusk, we should get up," Once again, no response. She noticed a smaller, empty flask on the ground next to him. She shook her head in disbelief. How much moonshine had he secretly brung along? She crawled over to him and shook him awake. His eyes opened almost instantly, and he sprang up, pointing his pistol every which way. He did that for about ten seconds before realizing there weren't any hostiles. He slumped back down and leaned against the tree again.

"Dusk, how much moonshine did you bring?" Rainbow asked. Dusk scratched the back of his head before producing another flask from the inside of his jacket.

"Think this is all," He said. One look at Rainbow and he said "Alright fine I'll get rid of it," He stood up and threw the flask in the air. He span the pistol and fired four shots from the hip. The flask exploded in a splash of liquid and fell to the ground, the moonshine seeping away into the earth. Dusk sighed and turned back to Rainbow.

"Come on now, we should go,"

After Rainbow Dash had checked the direction and Dusk had packed everything up, they headed out. They didn't see any wildlife, aside from a few wild Prowler tracks which Dusk and Rainbow wisely avoided. Soon enough, dirt changed to cement as they made their way into angel city. Dusk pulled Rainbow into an alleyway.

"We should disguise ourselves, since this place is still IMC controlled," Rainbow nodded and took off her helmet. Her rainbow-coloured hair fell down her back. Dusk took of his, and both were stuffed in the duffle bag. He and Rainbow were wearing normal enough clothes that they only had to take off their body armour and stuff it inside the bag as well. Rainbow looked over at Dusk, then to herself. They looked super inconspicuous, with Dusks leather jacket and her blue t-shirt. But this point, the duffle bag had been stuffed so much there were several suspicious-looking bumps at one end. Dusk countered this by shoving a few random junk items he found in the dumpster and made the entire bag both reek of trash and become oddly covert like it was just a bag full of garbage.

"Let's go. They've already gone long enough without reinforcements,"

"What about Twilight and the others?" Rainbow asked.

"They'll be alright. Twi is really smart so I highly doubt she'd be captured or worse. Meanwhile, we must uphold the mission," Protocol 2 of a titan. Note to self, ask if he's a titan, Rainbow thought while mentally chuckling.

They walked through the streets. Every few minutes a bystander would throw a suspicious glance at the bag but didn't say anything. Luckily, they didn't bump into any security, but they did need to go through a security gate to get to the Harbour district. Luckily, Dusk had already thought up a plan.

"I have a few friends in the Angel city elites. They told me about a few secret entrances they made through the walls," When they were about two hundred meters from the gate, Dusk turned sharply to the right. They continued for a bit until there were hardly any people around. He then passed Rainbow the bag and opened a dumpster. Inside, Dusk threw out bags full of trash until he reached the back, where he knocked some sort of code. He repeated it time and time again until there was a knocking which came back through. Dusk grinned and stepped out of the trash, with only the faintest whiff of stink. A metal door several yards down the street from them opened, and a man carrying a rather large garbage bag walked out. Dusk walked over and produced a card from his pocket. It was an ace of spades, with the word "ACES" written on it in red ink.

Rainbow followed him with mild curiosity printed all over her face. The man studies the card for a second, then quickly hurried him inside. Dus held out an arm and brung Rainbow in as well. Once the man had made sure the door closed he turned to Dusk.

"Where have you been? We've called reinforcements yesterday," He grunted in a German tone.

"We got ambushed and shot down before we could land," Dusk said.

"Well don't worry, you're not too late. I think. Publicly they announced they were all taken out, but the ARES division is still occupying the area, so I don't think all of them are dead yet. Es sind Lügenschweine,"

"Nice. Uh, you happen to have any news about the rest of my team? We were separated a day after our crash landing," Dusk asked.

"Nothing so far that I heard of. I'll try contacting the other points around the city, see if they saw anything,"

"Anyway, how much IMC forces?"

"A few titans, pilots, and grunts scattered everywhere. They had to move some out during their public announcement. Their excuse for the remaining forces is ''public safety''" The man made air quotes with his fingers.

"I think I'll need more than a team of two to get in. Know where Barker is?" Dusk asked.

"The normal pub," He replied. They reached the end of the hallway and the man opened another door.

"Alright, thanks mate," They high fived and left the building.

"So...uh, who's Barker?" Rainbow asked.

"You've never heard of Barker? He fought in the titan wars, helped out in numerous battles by naming key technological plants, and fought alongside me in the battle of Typhon during Operation Broadsword,"

"Oh. I never really heard of him, it was either my dad, my training or you guys,"

"Huh. Well, during my first few weeks as a pilot in the Militia I met Barker over drinks. Ever since he started the Angel City Elites though, I've been meeting him here in Angel City," Dusk said. People kept flashing suspicious glances, and a nearby pair of grunts pointed at them. Dusk grabbed Rainbows arm.

"C'mon, we should probably hurry," He urged Rainbow forward into a crowd as the pair began pursuing them.

Note

Hey, guys, it's me again. I put this warning on my other story as well, but school is starting soon so it might slow down my spellchecking. I already got several other chapters written in advance just in case, but they haven't been spellchecked/proofread. So consider yourselves warned. I encourage you to go check out my other story if you get bored of waiting. Anyway, that's all for now. Remember to use your cores people.


	4. Chapter 4

Rainbow and Dusk worked their way through the crowd, pushing and weaving through people. The grunts could obviously see their struggle to hurry forward. They burst out of the crowd in a full on sprint. Behind them, the two grunts were still trying to squeeze past the horde  
"We should move quicker. All grunts in this sector probably been alerted of us," They shot off. All of a sudden, a sniper bullet flew by Rainbow, hitting the duffel bag and tearing it apart. As quick as lightning, Dusk grabbed and threw Rainbow her helmet and a pistol, as well as a bit of light armour. No point in being covert now, she supposed. She put them on while running. Dusk already had his helmet and strapped his jumpkit on, deciding against the threat of staying in one place to put on the armour. He whipped around and covered Rainbow. The busy streets suddenly became panic filled, with people running this way and that screaming. Aside from providing a distraction, the sudden surge of panicked people caused the grunts even more trouble navigating. Rainbow finished putting on her things and she and Dusk tore down the streets, wallrunning and sliding at 63 KPH. To be honest, Rainbow last live action training session hadn't been in a while, so her knees weren't warmed up to the feeling of wall running. When Dusk stopped, Rainbow almost crashed into him. He grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her through a door.  
Inside, everyone stared at their sudden arrival. Someone in the back stood up and yelled "There! The Militia insurg-oof!" His breath was knocked out of him by a woman to his left. Another man came forward.  
"You couldn't resist showing up and plowing through every patrol, could you," Barker asked.  
"I think someone recognized us somehow. Anyway we need your help. We got separated from the rest of the team and we can't defeat the IMC guards at the hot zone alone," Dusk said,  
"Sure, but on one condition,"  
"And what is that?" Dusk asked.  
"Drinks on you tonight," He grinned. Dusk grinned back.  
"Alright, you old sonuvagun. Get your shotty, we're blowing this pop stand," Barker walked to a backroom for his jumpkit, helmet and "shotty". When he returned, Dusk burst out the door.  
He was immediately knocked back inside.  
The windows got smashed as stalkers and spectres forced their way inside.  
"Oh come on!" Barker complained loudly "Do you know how much money window panes cost?!"  
The onslaught of robotic infantry didn't seem to care about whether Barker had to replace whatever they smashed. They opened fire as many of the patrons quickly ran for cover. A few Militia pilots happened to be in the bar, so they grabbed their weapons and joined in the fight. Right now, Barker and Rainbow had taken refuge behind a quickly upturned, heavy timber table. The other pilots were scattered here and there, and Dusk was recovering from being thrown against several bottles and a counter at thirty miles a hour. Rainbow fired occasional bursts from behind the table, but the attackers were incredibly persistent, pressing onwards with destroyed limbs, even resorting to crawling.

"We're gonna need some help here," Barker yelled.  
"You don't say?" A Militia pilot to his left yelled back, sarcastically. Rainbow remembered it as a funny GIF she saw a few months back, but she quickly turned her attention back toward the battlefield.  
"Aim for the legs, kid," Barker said, tossing Rainbow a Mastiff "Crippled ones are easier to smash,"  
Rainbow nodded and cloaked. She ran behind some cover, even closer to the broken windows and doors from which more and more infantry spilled in from. She popped up and quickly fired off her entire capacity.  
"Yeah, just like that! Go crazy out there!" Barker yelled, firing around the corner of his table. Rainbow quickly reloaded and fired off half her capacity before a blue streak zipped by her. Dusk had recovered from his throw and was back in action, blasting at every hostile with amazing accuracy with his SMG. With him back in action and quickly clearing out the other stalkers, the Militia pilots were soon able to overwhelm the wave and send them packing.  
"Barker, Rainbow, come with me. Everyone else, stay here and guard for any potential reinforcements," Dusk said. Rainbow tried reloading her Mastiff but realized it was out, so she dropped it and drew her pistol.

When they arrived, the Intel was, unfortunately, right. The entire place was swarming with IMC units, ranging from grunts to deadly Reapers and titans.  
"This is worse than Typhon," Barker muttered.  
"I call the Scorch to the left," Dusk whispered, drawing his CAR  
"We're gonna have to take 'em down the old fashioned style," Barker said. Rainbow looked at him, confused.  
"Old fashioned style?"  
"Watch and learn, kid," Barker suddenly jumped out of cover. An Ion spotted him first and opened fire. He dodged each shot expertly and hooked onto the titans back. But instead of the normal battery taking out the battery, he pulled off a panel and began blasting away at the titan's insides. The Ion was caught off guard, not used to the sudden constant stream of damage. It tried grabbing Barker but failed. Dusk rushed out of cover next, Stimming his way toward the Scorch. Upon hopping on, he grabbed the emergency release handles on the Scorch's hatch and pulled. The pilot inside was caught by surprise, freezing before being violently thrown out. Dusk hopped inside. Dusk was now in control of the hijacked titan.  
It was Rainbows turn to find a target. She ran out of cover, looking around for any enemies she could hit. Her target list was short since she only had a pistol, which was incredibly weak compared to a shotgun or an auto hacking data core. But she could take down pilots and grunts. She ran around Dusk, then climbed some buildings. Dusk was crushing a squad of grunts under his heel, literally, when a missile flew out of nowhere and almost struck him. Dusk had activated a fiery flame shield just before, denigrating the missile. Still, he couldn't keep blocking the missiles forever, especially with the other titans closing in. Rainbow waited until the next missile flew out and pinpointed its location. She zipped over there and indeed there was a very distracted pilot. She carefully sneaked up behind them and stole their semi-auto pistol. She then proceeded to coolly fire at them, first the head, then the body. She threw it to the side and picked up the Archer rocket launcher. She grinned. This is something she could work with. She also grabbed a carbine and leaped out the window again.  
Barker was busy blasting away at another titans backside, but unknown to him, a Ronin was quickly rushing up behind, its Leadwall shotgun locked and loaded. Rainbow quickly loaded a missile and locked onto the titan. She fired, successfully making the Ronin stumble back. Barker had noticed her rocket and nodded in thanks as he jumped off. Rainbow targeted Barker's original titan and fired rocket after rocket until it was destroyed. He threw her a thumbs up.  
"Watch that Legion fall, heh. You're doing great kid, keep going,"  
Soon enough though, she realized she was out of rockets. She threw the launcher aside and picked up the carbine. Running and jumping across buildings, she shot at anything that moved, grunts, spectres, or stalkers. Everything was going well until she was suddenly knocked back with the force of a freight train. She flew back, tumbling over herself on the floor. She looked up to see a terrifying sight. A reaper, with its plasma cannons charged up, had just warped into battle. She assumed reinforcements would arrive, but not this quickly. Then again, reapers can warpfall, so that's probably how they're so early. It suddenly bunched up in a sort of ball and opened a compartment on its head. Suddenly, ticks flew out. Rainbow Dash panicked for a second, then jumped back, firing her carbine at the ticks first, which caused them to detonate, damaging the reaper itself in the process. It stuttered for a second before firing its rockets. Most of them missed Rainbow as she continued to rain fire on the reaper. She seemed to do no damage until Barker suddenly came out of nowhere. He began firing at the reaper but his shots seemed to do much more damage. Rainbow noticed he was firing at one point in particular; its waist where she noticed a small cooling device. She adjusted her firing pattern and soon the reaper exploded in a fiery boom, spraying thermite everywhere. Barker gave a quick nod to Rainbow and jumped off. She quickly climbed atop the structure she was on and looked around. Dusk was engaging an enemy Ion, and his hijacked titan wasn't looking too hot, figuratively. And literally, since it was on fire. And not the good, killing a lot of things on fire. Flames spat from the thermite launcher, the backpack, and the Scorches exhaust vents. Soon enough, Dusk dashed his titan forward with one last punch, and he was shot up in an ejection. A bright light emitted from the Scorch as it prepared for its nuclear detonation. Rainbow quickly hid, not wanting to be caught in the explosion by accident. The Ion frantically dashed backward but was fortunately blocked by a wall. Rainbow heard the loud boom as the wind rushed on either side of her. Titan nuclear meltdowns, luckily, did not leave any radiation behind, which intrigued her. A little bit.  
Ok fine. Not at all.  
She watched Dusk land a few meters from the entrance to the building, which looked like a large shopping mall. She ran toward him to see if she could help with anything. The moment she vaulted over the wall though, she got caught in the line of fire of about five sentries. She felt a hand grab her ankle and yank her down just as the shots flew past and over her, hitting the wall. Dusk handed her a grenade launcher with a look that told her what to do. She nodded and began launching grenades over the concrete barrier. Dusk peeked over and grabbed her barrel, adjusting it with every shot until she heard an explosion, signifying she hit. She launched a few more and Dusk made a thumbs up. He grabbed his CAR and threw her a carbine.

They both raced out. Barker joined them, sliding from roof to roof and taking out a squad of grunts that raced out after the sentries destruction.  
"Perfect timing," Dusk said. Barker nodded and ran inside, Dusk behind him, Rainbow behind Dusk. Barker seemed to know where the Elites were holed up, exactly. He led them into a service tunnel under the mall where they dodged patrols of stalkers. They soon arrived at a small area with a closed sliding door. There were several stalkers surrounding it, two who were actively trying to break in, kicking and prying at the door with their fingers. Barker handed Dusk something and he chucked it straight at them. It exploded in a bright flash of electricity and both men rushed forward, firing at the stunned stalkers. They didn't even try to retaliate, just standing completely still. They were soon reduced to scrap. Rainbow didn't even try to help. Dusk looked back at her and asked: "You coming?" She nodded and ran over. Barker knocked on the door and yelled.  
"It's Barker, open up," There was a scuffling sound on the other side, then the door slid open hastily. Rainbow winced when she saw the inside.  
The room was a small service closet, and there were six men, all clumped together uncomfortably. There was also a small sentry turret and a single stalker corpse.  
"Where were you?" One of them demanded, "We've been stuck in here, surviving for one day on nothing but dirty mop water!" Barker held up his hand, stopping the flow of questions.  
"There were ambushes, crashes and plan adjustment. Now, where's the important data that got you got?" The man looked peeved but handed over a modified data knife.  
"Bish had modified this data knife to hold some information, and we found some really good ones. We've taken a few pictures and gotten some Intel, and it seems like the ARES division is making giant strides toward the remains of Demeter," The man said "We think they're trying to repair a few fueling stations to start receiving reinforcements," Barker's eyes went wide.  
"We need to get this to the Militia," He threw the knife over to Dusk "There's no time to lose. I'll start emitting emergency radio waves to find your friends," Dusk nodded.  
"I'll try and send this info to Sarah," Dusk said, "You got a long-range encryptor?" Barker nodded.  
"What can I do?" Rainbow asked.  
"It's your choice. Either you can come with me to encrypt the message or go with Barker to find everyone else," Dusk said.


	5. Chapter 5

Rainbow was aboard the MCS Rutledge, racing toward Demeter. It was about a month and a half since they were evacuated from angel city. Turns out, Twilight and the others were miles away, in the right direction, but in the wrong district. The moment they boarded the ship that came to retrieve them, Sarah had brung them into a conference room to discuss what had been found. Viewing the photos, it looked like half the brunt of the ARES division were there, which largely consisted of automated infantry, including speculations of automated Hornets. Part of the main force was made up of mercenaries, which the ARES division mostly employed. While they were assembling ships to launch an attack, Dusk and Sarah had managed to contact a few of the mercs and swayed at least four or five onto their side with promises of more rewards. Now, the reformed 9nth militia fleet was making a beeline straight for Demeter. Rainbow had never seen Demeter. Sarah and Dusk had, which confused Rainbow. The Battle of Demeter happened over 20 years ago. Sarah and Dusk were both in their thirties, which meant that they would have been around ten when it happened. And as far as Rainbow was concerned no one came back from the battle, besides a few salvage crews of Marvins over the radiated surface. Rainbow tried bringing the subject up with Dusk, but he would normally sway the conversation to another topic or downright avoid it. She heard speculations of pilots who were invited by a mysterious organization, called the "Advocates" to, quote, "regenerate them". But that was speculation. wasn't it? Dusk never did explain where he had gotten his cybernetics, and they seemed far beyond what even the new Militia had, closer to IMC and ARES tech. Apparently, he also hadn't told anyone. Not even Sunset, which Pinkie and Applejack constantly teased Dusk for being obsessed with. She looked up as her father walked over.  
"Hi Dashie," He said, ruffling her hair. She giggled.  
"Everything alright?"  
"Yeah,"  
"How are you finding the Elites?"  
"Thier pretty awesome. Thanks for letting me join them," Rainbow hugged her dad. he hugged her back. Rainbow realized her chance and asked "I do have a question about Dusk, though,"  
"And what's that?" He asked.  
"How and where did he get his cybernetics?" Her father looked surprised.  
"of all the years we knew each other, he never bothered telling me. I brought it up a few times, but every time-"  
"-he would change the subject?" Rainbow finished her father's sentence. He looked surprised but pleased. he ruffled her hair and stood up.  
"I'm going to go check on my titan. Keep working hard alright?"  
"See you, Dad," Dash nodded

Abou t an hour later, Rainbow had fallen asleep when the intercom suddenly blared out a message.  
"Hostiles are in range. All gunners report to your stations immediately. This is not a drill. I repeat this is not a drill. All pilots and other land forces, report to your drop pods and titans immediately,"  
Rainbow sprung up, falling off the bench she sat on before running to her titan hangar. Everyone else was already there, prepping their titans. Rainbow climbed into hers. The Marvin working on Dashes saluted. She saluted back and gave the Marvin a high five, prompting it to make a happy noise before its elevated platform lowered.  
"I'm sure you all know our mission, so I'll be brief. New Intel came in. The ARES division has managed to restore a refuelling station," A few gasps came from around the room.  
"But don't worry. Our mission is simply to take control of the station. So this won't be a repeat of the first battle," Dusk winced and Rainbow could see the pain in his eyes from remembering the first.  
"I'm confident we can all get out of this alive," Dusk closed his titan's hatch and sat his titan in its drop system "Prepare for Titanfall,"  
A low rumbling came from the heavy metal doors opening below them. Nearly a second later, Rainbow was shooting through the atmosphere of Demeter. She landed with a heavy impact. Everyone else hit the ground seconds apart. Rainbow raced forward, expecting resistance. But there wasn't any. She looked around, confused. She looked back at everyone else and they seemed equally confused.  
"This is weird," dusk said. He turned toward Twilight "We are at the drop site, right?"  
"We should be," they all looked around. Dusk launched a sonar pulse around, to check for enemies. He reported none.  
A radio cut over their own. It was Sarah Briggs.  
"Everyone. There was an error in the system. We are at the wrong drop point. Widows are coming to your positions to take you to the proper drop sites,"  
"How long until they arrive?" Dusk asked.  
"They should be arriving at your location in half an hour. Be alert for any hostiles, see you at the proper drop site,"  
"You heard her. Secure the perimeter," Dusk barked. They began digging themselves into defensive positions. Twilight and Pinkie fanned out to check the perimeter while Dusk contacted the various other drop groups. Rainbow waited around, drawing circles in the dirt with her sword. Applejack suddenly dashed past Rainbow and put up her gun shield. A moment later several missiles struck the blue hexagon. About half a dozen titans suddenly came from our of cover, cleverly hidden so they would just be out of Dusks sonar pulse. One of the titans, a Scorch, stopped in front of them, carrying Twilight's busted titan. The cockpit opened up. A woman with very poofy orange hair stepped up. Rainbow could imagine Dusk's teeth clench, as his titan's free hand was balled into a fist.  
"Adagio," He growled. She smirked and said  
"I see you have fallen for their trap. You do realize how gullible the Militia is when there is a possibility we might just force them off their high horse,"  
"Let go of Twilight, and we can have a sensible fight," Rainbow wondered how do you even have a sensible fight. Adagio laughed and said  
"You were always the charmer," She threw Twilight to the ground before stomping on her. Rainbow could hear her frantic grunts from the radio. Adagio smirked again. Dusk opened his hatch and stood up too. But Rainbow noticed he wore a similar smirk. Adagio noticed this and frowned.  
"What?" She asked, confused about why the person who was supposed to be mad was suddenly grinning. Dusk merely pointed up. An Ion and a Tone that stood behind her followed his finger, then quickly pulled her back. Rainbow grinned as well.  
From the sky, a reaper warped into battle, slamming down where Adagio just stood. Clever. Small enough to avoid hitting Twilight, but lethal enough to get a reaction out. She fell back in surprise and Dusk quickly reentered his titan. Rainbows radio crackled on.  
"Orchard, assist Nightfall. P, report back here and try to flank them from behind. Diamond, engage the, uh, special titan. Sunrise, activate your core and assist in taking out Ronin. RD, you're with me,"  
Rainbow Dash followed Dusks shots as he engaged the downed Scorch, which had, luckily for Adagio, just been able to close its hatch. Rainbow raced forward, her leadwall blasting away. The Ion quickly put up its vortex shields to catch the projectiles, but when they released them back Rainbow phased behind them. She caught the Ion off guard with a sword slash to its rear. Suddenly, the scorch grabbed her by the arm and flung her to the side. Rainbow used the momentum to flip her titan back upright, digging her feet into the ground.  
"Be aware pilot. You are outnumbered by hostile titans," her titans AI said. She nodded and brought her sword up. The Ions were busy with Dusk, so Adagio turned her attention to Dashie. She darted left and right, deflecting any damage. Rainbow got within range and launched quick chops at the titan. Adagio put up her flame shield and Rainbow stepped back, tripping over something. Instantly, she felt fear cloud her mind. If she tripped now, the Scorch would be more than capable of turning her into barbeque. She tried to stay up, pinwheeling her arms. Adagio suddenly dashed forward and delivered a powerful punch, knocking her down. Another radiofrequency opened up, this one with Adagio.  
"pathetic. I wonder why Dusk replaced Trixie with you, you cant even put up a decent fight," She stomped onto Rainbows titan.  
"Critical damage. Seek cover," The Ai spluttered.  
As Adagio continued to gloat, Rainbow Dash pressed several buttons on the control panel above her, prompting a nuclear meltdown of her titan. Then, she hit the lever, located between her legs, while double-checking her grappling hook. Her Ronin announced the ejection and Rainbow was blasted out the top. She felt her back dig into the dirt but she pushed the pain from her mind as she fired the grapple backward as she could feel herself being dragged away from the exploding titan. Adagio was already dashing away as the Ronin blew. Rainbow was thrown back by the explosion, her wrist spraining on the grapple as she was thrown again its pull. Her fingers wrapped around the wire as she was pulled back and slammed against the concrete pillar she had grappled onto. She unhooked the grapple and sat there, back against the pillar, listening to the sounds of battle all around her. Apart from a few bruises and her sprained wrist, she didn't seem to be too badly hurt. She thought about the battle. Would this be the end of the Harmony Elites, and coincidentally, her? She thought of her father, of her own funeral. If she even had one, once the IMC returned. She would probably be thrown into some mass grave. Her radio cut through her thoughts as Dusk frantically said something on the shared transmission to the Rutledge.  
"We are being pummelled down here! Where are the Widows?"  
"They are heading to your location. What is the sitrep?" Sarah asked.  
"We are currently being held down by multiple hostile forces. Requesting immediate backup," Rainbow could hear DUsk straining each word. Rainbow was surprised how long Dusks was holding out, albeit sounding extremely pained. She peeked from her cover and discovered that Dusk was being held down by about five titans on top of him.

She wondered if hed nuclear eject. He did, and just as he stimmed away, the titans realized and quickly got off his titan. Two were caught in the blast, completely wiping their titans out.  
"Militia pilot spotted!" A grunt yelled, opening fire upon Dashie. She engaged, wiping out their entire squad with ease. Suddenly, she felt something clamp around her body ad left her off the ground. She was now face to face with the Scorch.  
"Well well well," Adagio said, her titan's warpaint grinning down at her "look what I found,"


	6. Chapter 6

Adagio put her thermite cannon right next to Rainbow's head.  
"Stop fighting or the recruit gets it!" She yelled.  
Shortly after they surrendered for RD's sake, she noticed that Dusk and Pinkie weren't among them. She saw quick movement flitting among the concrete buildings, so she figured that he must have gotten away and was flanking them, waiting for the right moment to rescue them. She prayed and waited, handcuffed and led to a Goblin dropship. She was placed next to Sunset Shimmer  
"You think Dusk is planning to get us out of here?" She nodded  
"Just wait. He's broken out of his fair share of IMC prisons, so I don't doubt hed be able to bust us out," She whispered back. Rainbow hoped she was right.

Meanwhile, Dusk had met up with Pinkie.  
"For once, I'm glad you didn't listen to me," Dusk said, walking nex to her titan "If you followed orders, then I wouldn't have anyone to help me,"  
"Dont mentoin it," She said "So where are they being taken?"  
"If I had my best bet, I would say to Overlook,"  
"What and wheres that?" Pinkie asked.  
"Its a modified refuelling plant, now designed to act as a prison," Dusk said.  
"So, uh, where is it?"  
"It's on Horizon..." Dusk felt his stomach tie into knots. Horizon was roughly two to three jumps away, depending on the ship. There would be no way a dropship could be able to get there. Only a large ship like the Rutledge could make it in decent time. And there was no way Sarah would allow Dusk to "borrow" the ship for that purpose when they were on a full-on battle on Demeter. Barker's voice came across the radio.  
"Widows and dropships are heading for your locations. Hold on until they arrive,"  
"Well, at least we don't have to hold off anyone," Pinkie said, encouragingly. DUsk chuckled and nodded.  
"Come on, maybe Sarah will let us go on this mission,"

"They WHAT?" Sarah demanded, back on the Rutledge.  
"They got captured, and they're being taken to Overlook," Dusk replied.  
"how?"  
"As good as we are, we cant hold our own against over two dozen titans with no support," Dusk said sarcastically "Besides, they got the jump on us. Managed to get a hostage. Luckily, I managed to slip away and Pinkie didn't listen to me," Dusk watched Sarah intently. he knew her long enough to predict what she was thinking of. Anger about the imprisonment, wondering whether or not to reprimand pinkie, and the rescue mission.  
"So the mission you're proposing," She intertwined her fingers and rested her chin on them "What's your plan?"  
"you take us there. Ill take a dropship. Then, you jump away and we'll tell you when we bust them out and need a evac. That's all you need to do," Dusk said.  
"And if you get captured?" Sarah asked.  
"Then you can get pissed at me all you want. Come on, Sarah, you know I've busted out of that prison like, a dozen times,"  
"More like once," Sarah muttered. Dusk ignored her and continued.  
"As I already said, all you need to do is get us there,"  
Sarah closed her eyes, thinking. Would starting a rescue mission so close to a failed mission be a good idea? The 9th and 8th fleets are weakened, and there were so many casualties from the multiple ambushes at the drop sites. But, as Dusk said, it would only be an In and out for her.  
"Alright, fine," She said "But Dusk, if you get captured, I swear to god I will have you court marshalled,"  
"For what, being captured?" Dusk laughed "Thanks Sarah,"

Rainbow Dash was bored. A few hours ago she was taken off the dropship and shoved into a prison cell with everyone else.  
"Let us out!" Applejack said, pausing between every word to kick the door.  
"Applejack, it's no use," Twilight said from the corner "Their not going to just let us out,"  
Rainbow looked around the room. It was uncompromisingly bare. No beds, so Rarity was sleeping on a makeshift pillow made from Sunsets leather jacket. There was only one small vent in the door. No windows, no toilets, and only one small, dingy lightbulb hanging from the ceiling. Rainbow stood up with a sigh and walked over to the door. She peered through the vent to see if she could catch anything interesting. She moved out of the way as applejack went back to kicking at it.  
"When will Dusk come?" She asked.  
"GIve him some time, dearie. He is probably on his way with Pinkie. After all, he would leave us in this stingy dungeon,"

Pinkie was the definition of loud. She would normally be jumping around and partying. Which is the reason Dusk figured that she wouldn't respond too well to the mission of being quiet and cautious. Surprisingly, she was, not saying a word when she touched the ground. The goblin drop ship they arrived in quickly lifted back off. Sarah was instructed to send in another ship after eight hours if Dusk didn't make contact by then. He and Pinkie both armed up with silenced smart pistols, as well as satchels and smokes.  
"Alright, weapons hot. Lets move," Dusk said. Pinkie nodded and followed him. The prison didn't have any gates since the only way in or out was by air. Dusk and Pinkie scaled the wall easily and crept around using extended cloak. When they reached a door, Dusk looked at it.

Data, UD status on this door

Data, DUsks AI, responded in his head.

"There appears to be another anomaly here in the UpsideDown. The door is open," Dusk nodded and turned to Pinkie, whispering

"Pink, I can get through here. You're going to need to find another way in, ok?" She nodded and jumped off to find another entrance, her jump jets nearly invisible. Dusks quickly got ready and clenched his fist. He disappeared in grey particles, running forward and sliding underneath a nearby tank, materializing back into reality. He could hear grunts talking nearby and peeked out from under the tank.  
"Did you see the latest transport of prisoners?"  
"Yeah, all females. I'm surprised, how did they manage to only gather the female pilots?"  
"No, you idiot. It was an entire team of females. led by a single guy,"  
"Wow really?"  
"Yeah," The grunt took on a sly tone "I wouldn't mind, being in a squad of only girls,"  
Dusk silently blew a raspberry. He might be in a team of girls but he thought of them as sisters. Never like that.  
Well ok, besides Sunset  
He poked his smart pistol out and locked on before instantly killing the pair. Their bodies crumpled to the ground, no screams, no blood. He got up and dragged their bodies under the tank before cloaking again. Unlocking a few doors with their ID and keycards, he passed spectres and sentries, all luckily not noticing him. he tried unlocking another door, but it seemed to be where the grunts authority ended. He quickly hid and waited for someone to open the door. It seemed to only be accessible to spectres so far, so the next time a duo walked around, he took out one before hacking the other. The hacked spectre granted him access and he hurried inside, ordering the spectre to stand guard there. if he was correct, they should be somewhere in this hallway. He passed the three cells which he was actually held in, peering through each grate and vent. Two hundred yards down he heard kicking, and he ran to the source and peered through the vent. he grinned when he heard Applejacks grunts and kicks. he uncloaked and whispered in the door.  
"Applejack, stop. Some people are trying to sleep,"  
She jumped back in surprise before peering through the vent. He could see her grin.  
"He's here," She told the others.  
"Pinkies outside looking for another way in. Stand back, I have charges," Applejack nodded and ushered everyone back.

Rainbow heard the thumps as Dusk stuck the charges to the door. He called back in and said he'd detonate the charges in five seconds. Rainbow counted down in her head. Five, four, three, two, one. The charges detonated and so did the blaring alarms. Dusk raced in, smiling widely.  
"Told you," Rarity said to Dashie.  
"Hurry, I'm betting all my credits that the guards will be here soon," Dusk stepped out of the room. Rainbow followed him out the door when suddenly a fist struck the side of his face. he crumpled sideways, clutching his suddenly misaligned jaw. He was grabbed from behind and a hand latched onto the back of his neck, clasping around his data core. he yelled in surprise, flailing his head around to try and dislodge the tight fingers. Rainbow tried to help, grabbing the arm and trying to get the fingers away from his core. Rainbow felt a hard thump and she fell back down the stairs into the cell. She could hear screams as she felt warmth trickle down her arm. She could see patches of red forming. there was a sharp screech as she heard wires being snapped and electronics being unplugged. Then, smack as a body hit the floor. She blacked out.

Note

Sorry for the shorter chapter this time. I had a normal one planned out, but I couldn't find any way to make it fit, so I'm splitting it into two sections.  
Also, depending on the time constraints, I may end this story early. The next part is guaranteed to be published but the part after that I'm not sure yet.


End file.
